Chapter XXIV

Personal Assurance That One Is Among the Elect

l. Basis For Assurance. 2. Scripture Teaching.
3. Conclusion.

1. BASIS FOR ASSURANCE

All true Christians may and should know that they are among
those who have been predestinated to eternal life. Since faith in
Christ, which is a gift from God, is the means of salvation, and
since this is not given to any but the elect only, the person who
knows that he has this faith can be assured that he is among the
elect. The mere presence of faith, no matter how weak it may be,
provided it is real faith, is a proof of salvation. "As many as
were ordained to eternal life (and they only) believed,"
Acts 13:48. Faith is a miracle of grace within those who have
already been saved—a spiritual token that their
salvation was "finished" on the cross, and certified on the
resurrection morn. The truly saved know that the love of God has
been shed abroad in their hearts and that their sins have been
forgiven. In Pilgrim's Progress we read that when Christian's sins
were forgiven a heavy burden rolled from his shoulders and that he
experienced a great relief. Every converted man should know that
he is among the elect, for the Holy Spirit renews only those who
are chosen by the Father and redeemed by the Son. "It is folly to
fancy that a sincere lover of Jesus Christ who trusts in Him as
his Saviour and lovingly obeys Him as his Lord, can possibly lack
the election of God. It is only because he is one of God's elect
that he can believe in Christ for the salvation of his soul, and
follow after Christ in the conduct of his life. . . . It is
impossible, that a believer in Christ should not be elected of God,
because it is only by the election of God that one becomes a
believer in Christ. . . . We need not, we must not, seek elsewhere
for the proof of our election. If we believe Christ and obey Him,
we are His elect children."143143 Warfield, pamphlet, Election, p. 18.

Every person who loves God and has a true desire for salvation
in Christ is among the elect, for the non-elect never have this
love or this desire. Instead, they love evil and hate righteousness
in accordance with their sinful natures. "Does a man do his duty
to God and his neighbor? Is he honest, just, charitable, pure? If
he is, and if he is conscious of the power to continue so, so far
as he can depend on this consciousness, so far he may reasonably
believe himself to be predestined to future
happiness."144144 Mozley, The Augustinian Doctrine of
Predestination, p. 45.

"We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we
love the brethren. He that loveth not abideth in death,"
I John 3:14. "He that is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his
seed abideth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of
God," I John 3:9. That is, it is against his inner principles to
commit sin. When he thinks deeply and soberly about it, sin is
repulsive to him and he hates it. Just as a good American citizen
does nothing which will be detrimental to his country, so the true
believer does nothing which injures the kingdom of God. As a matter
of practice, no one in this world lives a perfectly sinless life;
yet this is the ideal standard which he seeks to reach.

Says Dr. Warfield, "Peter exhorts us, II Peter 1:10, to make
our 'calling and election sure' precisely by diligence in good
works. He does not mean that by good works we may secure from God
a decree of election in our behalf. He means that by expanding the
germ of spiritual life which we have received from God into its
full efflorescence, by 'working out' our salvation, of course not
without Christ but in Christ, we can make ourselves sure that we
have really received the election to which we make claim. . . .
Good works become thus the mark and test of election, and when
taken in the comprehensive sense in which Peter is here thinking
of them, they are the only marks and tests of election. We can
never know that we are elected of God to eternal life except by
manifesting in our lives the fruits of election—faith and
virtue, knowledge and temperance, patience and godliness, love of
brethren. . . . It is idle to seek assurance of election outside
of holiness of life. Precisely what God chose His people to before
the foundation of the world was that they should be holy. Holiness,
because it is the necessary product, is therefore the sure sign of
election."145145 Pamphlet, Election, pp. 17, 18.

As Toplady says, "A person who is at all conversant with the
spiritual life knows as certainly whether he indeed enjoys the
light of God's countenance, or whether he walks in darkness, as a
traveler knows whether he travels in sunshine or in rain."

How may I know that I am among the elect? One may as well ask,
How do I know that I am a loyal American citizen, or how shall I
distinguish between white and black, or between sweet and bitter?
Every one knows instinctively what his attitude is toward his
country, and the Scriptures and conscience give as clear evidence
of whether or not we are among God's people as white and black do
of their color, or sweet and bitter do of their taste. Every person
who is already a child of God should be fully conscious of the
fact. Paul exhorted the Corinthians, "Try your own selves, whether
ye are of the faith; prove your own selves. Or know ye not as to
your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed ye be
reprobate," II Cor. 13:5.

2. SCRIPTURE TEACHING

We have the assurance that "The Spirit Himself beareth witness
with our spirit, that we are children of God," Rom. 8:16.
"He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in him,"
I John 5:10. "And the witness is this, that God gave unto us
eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son
hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life.
These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that
ye have eternal life, even unto you that believe on the name of
the Son of God," I John 5:11-13. The born-again Christian welcomes
the Gospel in his heart, but the unregenerate push it off: "We are
of God: He that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God
heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the
spirit of error," I John 4:6. "And hereby we know that He abideth
in us, by the Spirit which He gave us," I John 3:24. "Because ye
are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,
crying, 'Abba, Father,'" Gal. 4:6. The regenerated person
instinctively recognizes God as his Father. "We know that we have
passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren,"
I John 3:14. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born
of God," I John 5:1,—this means all who confess Him as
Lord—what blessed assurance! "Ye know that everyone that
doeth righteousness is born of Him," I John 2:29. Those who hear
and welcome the Gospel are actuated by this inner saving
principle.

"He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that
obeyeth not the Son hath not life, but the wrath of God abideth on
him," John 3:36. "No man speaking in the Spirit of God saith,
Jesus is anathema; and no man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the
Holy Spirit," I Cor. 12:3. By this we are taught that a truly
saved person cannot cast Jesus off and revile Him, and that
anyone who looks to Jesus as the Lord and his Lord, has been
regenerated and is among the elect. This, then, is a proof of his
salvation. Each person knows what his attitude toward Jesus is;
and knowing this, he is able to judge whether or not he is saved.
Let each one ask himself this question, What is my attitude toward
Christ? Would I be glad for Him to appear and talk personally to
me this moment? Would I welcome Him as my Friend, or would I
shrink from meeting Him? Those who look forward with joy to the
coming of Christ may know that they are saved.

Since these certain marks of salvation are laid down in
Scripture, a person, by honestly examining himself, may know
whether or not he is among God's people. And by the same rule he
may with caution judge of others; for if we see the external
fruits of election in them and are convinced of their sincerity,
we may reasonably conclude that they are elect. Paul had assurance
concerning the Christians at Thessalonica, for he wrote, "Knowing,
brethren, beloved of God, your election, how that our Gospel came
not to you in words only, but also in power, and in the Holy
Spirit, and in much assurance," I Thess. 1:4, 5. He also knew that
God had chosen the Ephesians in Christ, for he wrote to them: "He
chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blemish before Him in love; having foreordained
us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will," Ephesians 1:4, 5.

3. CONCLUSION

But on the other hand we should not pronounce any living person
to be non-elect, no matter how sinful he may be at present; for
even the vilest person may, so far as we know, yet be brought to
faith and repentance by the Holy Spirit. The conversion of many of
the elect is still future. Hence no one has a right to declare
positively that he or any other person is among the non-elect, for
he does not know what God may have in store for him or them. We
can, however, say that those who die impenitent are certainly lost,
for the Scriptures are explicit on that.

We cannot say that every true Christian has this assurance; for
it can only properly arise from a knowledge of one's own moral
resources and strength, and the one who underestimates himself may
innocently be without it. The Christian may at times become very
discouraged because of weak faith, but this does not prove him to
be among the non-elect. When faith is strengthened and erroneous
views of salvation are cleared up, it is the privilege and duty of
every Christian to know himself saved, and to escape that fear of
apostasy which must constantly haunt every consistent Arminian so
long as he continues in this life. Hence, while assurance is
desirable and easily obtainable for any one who has made some
progress in the Christian way, it cannot always be made the test
of a true Christian.

Through the Scriptures God repeatedly gives us the promises
that those who come to Him in Christ shall in no wise be cast out,
that whosoever will may take of the water of life without money
and without price, and that he who asks shall receive. The grounds
for our assurance, then, are both within us and without us. If,
therefore, any true believer lacks the assurance that he is forever
safe among God's people, the fault is in himself and not in the
plan of salvation, or in the Scriptures.